Art Exhibition: SPIRITSCAPES

Artist: STEPHEN EASTAUGH

Dates: 4 October– 16 October 2014

Venue: Thavibu Gallery

Vernissage: Saturday 4 OCTOBER 2014 at 5 pm

Open: Monday – Saturday: 11:00 – 19:00

Thavibu Gallery is pleased to present the art exhibition SPIRITSCAPES — showcasing recent works on paper

by Stephen Eastaugh. www.stepheneastaugh.com.au

SPIRITSCAPES ทิวทัศน์ในบ้านแห่งจิตวิญญาณ

This series of work on paper all offer a “farang” view of the charming spirit houses (ศาลพระภูมิ) I have seen across S.E. Asia.

As a foreigner I understand very little about the rituals connected to the spirit houses but I do adore the various forms of

mini shrines to be found around Bangkok, from the sturdy intricate golden ones to the crumbling old wooden folk-art houses

tucked away in the trunks of ancient trees.

This idea of having unseen guardians living within places or things is an effective way of explaining complicated or unknown

phenomenon. It is a device to make sense of chaos, a way of trying to control events and a popular way to interact with the

world that is still used today in all forms of religion.

Drawings are small spaces and often there is space created within the space due to the illusion of perspective and the way

people “read” artwork. These landscapes are gleaned from years of mark making and the large mental library of locations I

have physically travelled through so I build or sew a spirit house inside each two dimensional space/landscape as a gift to

all those invisible spirits that may live in these abstract landscapes I have created. If spirits do exist perhaps they exist inside

drawings as well?

-Stephen Eastaugh.

Artist Stephen Eastaugh was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1960 and, explicably, has two fathers. Both were sailors and

– both – were either the cause or inspiration for Eastaugh’s self-diagnosed disease: an unremitting, uncontrollable and

incurable need to travel.

For the past thirty years he has been traveling and creating art in 90 very different countries across all continents. Eastaugh

is probably the most well traveled Australian artist alive and has had the honour to be the first contemporary artist to winter

over in Antarctica in 2009 c/o the Australian Antarctic Division’s Art Fellowship. Since 1982 he has held over 90 solo

exhibitions and been involved in 150 group exhibitions in a dozen countries. Eastaughs work can be found in the National

Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of West Australia, Museum of Modern Art - Heide Victoria,

Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Parliament House Canberra, Nevada Museum of Art USA and numerous private

collections around the world. He currently moves between Australia, Argentina and....elsewhere.